Mayor charged after ‘trying to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex after grooming online’

Councillor Lee Cook was elected just three months ago

By Brittany Vonow

7th August 2017, 3:03 pm

Updated: 25th August 2017, 9:57 am

THE youngest mayor in his town's history has been arrested after allegedly trying to meet with a 15-year-old boy.

Councillor Lee Cook today resigned after being charged with attempting to meet a boy under 16 years of age following grooming, just months after he became Peterlee's youngest mayor.

Lee Cook was charged with trying to meet a 15-year-old boy

The 29-year-old has since been suspended from the North East Party over the allegations.

Cook faced charges of attempting to meet a boy under the age of 16 following grooming at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court on Monday morning, Chronicle Live reported.

After appearing in court today, he was released on unconditional bail and told he must sign the sex offenders register and not have any unsupervised contact with under-16s.

He is expected to next appear at Durham Crown Court on August 25.

He had been elected to represent Edenhill ward in County Durham just three months ago.

Speaking shortly after he became mayor in May this year Cook, a member of the North East Party, said: "I am proud to have been selected as the youngest mayor in Peterlee town council history and over the next year I will represent all of the people, both young and old, not just the few and I will be hands on with community events and activities and fundraising activities for my own charities."

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